The Penultimate Problem
by SolarPenguin - A Common Loafer
Summary: Short cameo. While fleeing from Moriarty, Holmes and Watson encounter a young Belgian detective...


(Being a previously unpublished extract from the reminiscences of John H  
Watson MD)  
  
It was April 27th, 1891. Holmes and I sat in the bar of the hotel in  
Belgium, sipping our Brandies and talking about our recent flight from  
Professor Moriarty as we awaited the telegram which would tell us that  
Scotland Yard had succeeded in rounding up the last members of the  
Professor's gang.  
  
"Once this case is finally over," remarked Holmes, " and I have crowned  
my career by the capture or extinction of the most dangerous and capable  
criminal in Europe, then I shall retire from detective work. There  
shall be little joy for me in continuing this career much longer."  
  
"But Holmes," I protested, "just because this has been the biggest  
challenge of your career so far, does not mean that you shan't go on to  
face even greater challenges in the future."  
  
"Good old Watson," he chuckled. "You are right, and yet ennui was not  
what I feared. My biggest challenge would be keeping pace with the  
future itself."  
  
"I do not understand."  
  
"We live in changing times, my dear Watson, and the consulting detective  
must change with them. What use is there in being able to identify a  
clerk by his shirt cuffs if, in a few years time all clerical work is  
not handwritten but typed? Or if cuffs are made in such a way that they  
do not wear out so easily?"  
  
"But even so Holmes --" I began.  
  
"No, my mind is made up. For some time now, I have been intending to  
look into the problems furnished by nature rather than those more  
superficial ones for which our artificial state of society has created.  
Only the continuing presence of Professor Moriarty has prevented me from  
doing so."  
  
"Excuse moi, mon ami, but are they truly as artificial as you claim?"  
  
The new speaker was a young Belgian, a small man with a large moustache.  
He approached our table and Holmes gestured towards an empty chair. The  
newcomer accepted this invitation and he sat down. He introduced  
himself, and added:  
  
"I have recently joined the Belgian police force because I hope to  
become a detective. What interests me about such work is not your dull,  
scientific tasks of analysing shirt-cuffs or tobacco ash. Mais non,  
c'est la psychologie. Using the little grey cells of my mind to enter  
the mind of someone else - the criminal."  
  
"Pray, continue." Holmes smiled to himself, no doubt reflecting on his  
recent battle of wits against Moriarty.  
  
"For this," the little Belgian added, twirling his moustache, "it is the  
imagination that should be important, not the science, and imagination  
is something which will never become out of date."  
  
Holmes paused for a moment then replied, "You have a capital point,  
there. Moriarty is a mathematician; he understands numbers, equations,  
and theorems. He lacks the imagination to understand people and that is  
why he shall be defeated tonight."  
  
Holmes and our new friend continued to discuss various aspects of  
detection and psychology until we were interrupted by the pageboy  
bringing a telegram. Holmes tore it open, and then with a bitter curse  
hurled it into the grate.  
  
"I might have known it!" he groaned. "He has escaped!"  
  
"Moriarty?" I asked.  
  
"They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him. He has  
given them the slip. Of course, I had assumed that he would have  
returned to London and attempt to block the police operation. I was  
wrong. So much for psychology! Perhaps I should stick to facts in  
future, after all."  
  
It would be tempting to leave the story there, yet this encounter had a  
curious epilogue. As the reader may already know, after Holmes had  
defeated the evil Professor at the Reichenbach Falls he made his way  
secretly to Tibet. Once there he spent much of his time studying  
meditation in a monastery, learning more about himself so he might know  
more about others. It would seem to have succeeded, since I had never  
known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in  
the year following his return.  
  
_____  
  
  
Holmes & Watson created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  
Hercule Poirot created by Agatha Christie  
  
Any original content is mine.  



End file.
